Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 27 Gorffennaf 1923.
In Clause 2, Sub-section (1, d). It reads:
Any cause, not being a cause to which paragraph (a), paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of this Section applies, shall, if any party thereto makes an application, in that behalf, be tried with a jury, unless in the opinion of the Court or a Judge the cause is more fit to be tried without a jury.
An hon. Member near me on the Labour Benches says that kills my argument, but I do not think it does. If one looks at the Act of 1918, one sees under Section 1, paragraph (c):
If it appears to the Court or a Judge that any action, counter-claim, cause, or matter, or any question or issue therein, is more fit to be tried with a jury than without a jury, the Court or a Judge may,
and so forth. Under that Act one has to come before a Court and convince the Court that that particular action to which the person making the application was a party was fit to be tried by a jury, and he had to make a case before that jury was granted, but under this paragraph (d) of the present Clause it is set forth that any party who makes an application to be tried with a jury, unless in the opinion of the Court or Judge the case is more fit to be tried without a jury, shall have a jury. The converse now is the truth, namely, that a person has to come before a Court of Justice and satisfy that Court that this is a case that ought to be tried by jury.